With Google Voice you can intimidate people by making them announce who they are before you take their call. You can also listen in while they're leaving their message and join in if it's not a collection aganecy (just like an old-school answering machine). You choose where your Google Voice number rings. This is most likely going to be your cell phone but if you're on vacay or banging your secretary* somewhere out in the boondocks, you can have it ring at the hotel room. Or if you forgot your cell entirely one day, you can have it forward to someone else's nearby.

Consider using your Google Voice number for life. Give it out exclusively, and change cell-phone carriers whenever you want without worrying about porting your phone number. You can even get a Google Voice number from a different area code and recreate your personal history "yes, I am probably the only tan person in Portland. In fact I just moved here from Austin. I organized SBSW."

Here are some more reasons why I can't live without Google Voice:

• I have been texting from my desktop for years now thanks to Google Voice. I just click and text notes to my husband. I can harass him all day long with every stupid thought and potential errand that pops into my head.

• I have also NOT listened to a single voicemail in years either. Google Voice records my voicemails (of course) but it texts and emails me transcripts as well.
• I can access my voicemails from anywhere I can get access to internet super highway. I can also send copies of the recorded voicemails to anyone via email. I just want to punctuate how handy it was to have copies of one particular voicemail from one of my clients saying I was "spot-on."  Thank you Google Voice! I'll be taking that sweet nugget to small claims court because the guy's seedy partner decided not to pay me.

Most recently, Google Voice offers the ability to call anyone, for free, from a Google Chat window. This means you don't have to use up your cell phone minutes to call Aunty Boring for an hour-long catchup call. Great for when my cell phone minutes are getting sparse but this isn't as convenient as it sounds. You can send and receive from Google Talk if you keep your Gmail window open (with the Google Chat section open as well). I have I.D.D. and I have 40 browser windows open at a time so I just can't find it when I need to. There is no autonomous Google chat app for the Mac that lets me just dial and answer from my desktop. That would be too fracking easy. Yes, I know iChat aggregates Google chat, but the voice service benefits don't work on iChat.

For the past couple years I have been using an add-on for Chrome, (pictured above) but it requires I keep Chrome open and I prefer Firefox because I'm a web designer.

My big news is that there is also a new app for the Mac called BigPhone.  Similar to the Chrome extension I've been using, it puts a convenient icon in your desktop menu bar so you can text back and forth (it's as easy as using iChat or Google Chat).

If you don't have a Google Voice number, it's easy to get one and it's free. Assuming you have a gmail address, go to www.google.com/voice/ and pick your new number. Now you have a pseudo number you can use for obnoxious suitors or nagging PTA moms who ask you to volunteer.

There are lots of good articles if you're confused about Google Voice. Check 'em out here:

What is Google Voice? - Macworld

How To: Totally Overhaul Your Phones With Google Voice - Gizmodo

Five Brilliant Ways to Use Google Voice - Fast Company

Also some videos here.

* I apologize for using the word "secretary," it's such a dirty word which is why I liked using it. I am reminded that "administrative assistant" is far more p.c.

I like just about everything on their home furnishings sale page, but here are a few that made me drool so much I just had to write about it:

100% New Zealand Wool Hand-Tufted Rug- Blocks Earth. Was $1600, now $900	Perpetual Wall Calendar. Was $60, now $28
48x40 Marimekko Stretched Fabric - Moments Pattern. Was $150 now $75	Laukkusetti Set of Hat Boxes. Was $56, now $39

Relish's items home:
http://www.shoprelish.com/Store/pc/SALE-c42.htm

Relish's sale items jewelry:
http://www.shoprelish.com/Store/pc/Jewelry-Sale-c59.htm

If you only have ten minutes to make a birthday cake, you're lucky enough to live in Portland, and you're even luckier to have a line a mere sixteen people deep to stand on, why not pile a bunch of Voo Doo Doughnuts into a tower?

They have two locations but it's much more adventurous to go to the downtown location and pretend you're in an episode of Portlandia. Although.... the Sandy location has an awesome vintage Bubble Hockey game.

You could argue that Voo Doo Doughnuts is over publicized, but they are delicious, and from what I understand, completely calorie-free! Plus, I know people who know these people and I hear they are really nice people. (And that matters in a place like Portland.)

Just for anyone who HAS been here before, I thought I'd share a special, humiliating, treat: ME on the cover or a teen romance novel in 1983. Enjoy!

My Favorite Personal Posts that really highlight how funny  crazy I am

Best DIY stuff

My favorite find last night was the artist Tom Souhlas. He was doing something I've never seen before; painting on the backside of salvaged windows and I fell in love with pig painting below. You can see more of his art at junkwithpaint.blogspot.com/ and frankly, at around $100 a piece, I think it's worth having it shipped if you're reading this from across the country. Hmm, that makes me think my girlfans at Country Living would drool over these...

click to enlargeclick to enlarge

In an attempt to distract myself from getting some work done, I have found myself obsessed with vintage bikes. I found this one on Ebay and I can't believe how beautiful the photography is.

Vintage Foremost Bike on Ebay
Written by the seller: This nice vintage Foremost cruiser is in good riding condition and would love to take you out for icecream on a warm summer evening!  This tank bike originally had two lights at the snout of the tank, though it looks like the batteries etc. have been taken out.  The bike rides well and looks good.  It has some surface rust, some pitted chrome, and overall wear - apparently it's been ridden a fair amount over the years, but still has plenty to go.... The frame is a steel gray with a blue tank and blue back rack.  The front chrome rack will expand to hold your packages (or beer, or what have you).  This is a single speed bike with a coaster brake - nice and simple!

There is no shipping for this bike - LOCAL PICKUP ONLY.  Please do not bid on this bike if you cannot pick it up.  Our shop is located in downtown Bloomington, IL, about 2 hours south of Chicago and 2 hours north of St. Louis...

click to enlarge (because this might no be PINK enough for you and you may need to see how pink your computer monitor can get!)Click to enlarge because this really DID say "make every room a gay room". Can you imaging having friends over in the eighth grade... "hey Sarah, want to go hang out in the gay room?" Sure your furniture is beautiful but you're going to have a really tough time if you're straight. I always love to impress my friends on Memorial Day. (War Veterans always love salad.) Mostly I provide only ridiculously healthy salads for my kids and this is one of them. The trick apparently is FRESH marshmallows, not those crappy non-organic marshmallows they sell at the grocery store.

I have been working on retro inspired website for a new client and I had the privilege of going through my collection of old magazines. Ok this is all I've got right now: A pink living room, a gay room and a healthy marshmallow salad for Memorial Day. Enjoy!

The kids and I made this out of a matchbox a couple years ago.

I'll make this short and sweet; I'm not going to argue that being a Mom is any harder than being a Dad. It's all hard work and it comes with it sweet rewards. Mostly, I am just really appreciative of the wonderful Wonder Women who have influenced me and continue to keep me laughing and smiling.

A shout out to two Wonder Women, Kim and Michelle, who sat with me for two days at our yard sale and made me laugh. We looked at each other's boobs (ok just mine), and told each other some secrets and (of course) talked about our kids incessantly. We enjoyed having fake conversations with some our ruder patrons: "Why don't you want to buy the BLACK Groovy Girl?"... "you'd like to buy that Lilly Pulitzer dress for a quarter?... hmmm... I thing I'd rather rip up the dress and eat it in front of you."

Remember, not all Moms are the women who pushed us out. Some of them don't even have kids of their own. For instance, I have three "Moms" and even though I adore #2, I won't exchange calls with any of them. No big deal, we're just not that close. But today I called Scott's Aunt Joann and I owe another call to my Aunt Annie. Aunt Joann doesn't have kids but for 17 years she has loved our family unconditionally. She always remembers birthdays and always has some kind and practical words when we need them. She's like a Mom to me and Mr. Meathead and a Grandmother to my kids. My Aunt Annie, well she's a character just like me. She has been "mothering" me for 15 years now and I adore her. My best Mom was my Grandmother. She died two days before Piper was born and gave Pipey her personality and blue eyes. On Mother's Day I miss her so much, a golf ball swells up in my throat just thinking about her.

Happy Mother's Day to all my sweet friends and family. And thier friends, and their friends...

New Junior Editor arrives on "Take Your Kid to Work Day"

Ok, this part I made is 2 bricks high, 12 bricks long, and 8 bricks long. The studded base is 16x16 but you can use any size you want. Materials for the next step.

After the parts are put on.Materials. Afterwards.Well what do you know it's more materials.

The tall white brick and the multi colored tall brick go in the back.Even more materials.

The tall bricks in the back of the materials photo go inside the base. AAAAAHHH more materials!!! P.S. The next shot is a movie.

A few decorations can help show your personality.

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I don't really have time right now to write any in-depth articles or rants. Sometimes "Nifty Living" isn't so Nifty, but that's ok because this blog isn't about making you feel like my life is so much better than yours, because it isn't.  Fiona has had some serious speed-bumps lately as well. Cross your fingers for both of our families. We could use some good luck.
But that's not really important, is it?
What is important are the little things, not the big things. A compliment, a kiss at the door on the way to work, a phone call to a sick aunt, and actually listening to your kids and their silly stories. That stuff seems to pay off.

This morning we had three adorable 8 year-olds playing outside way to early for the neighbors to appreciate. I couldn't resist sitting on the porch listening to them and sipping my coffee. Life is really confusing right now, but for 20 minutes I was in my very own heaven. Then I grabbed my $9 vintage Polariod and finally nailed a perfect picture. It was so satisfying that I dragged Sky away from his book and made him pose for me too. You can tell that he thought this was a stellar idea. 

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